SP stand on Siddiqui reveals anti-Gujarat mindset: BJP

Ahmedabad: Reacting sharply to Samajwadi Party’s assertion that Urdu journalist Shahid Siddiqui, who interviewed Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, was not its member, the BJP government in the state today said this “reveals a revengeful mindset of those against the state”.

“Expulsion of Shahid Siddqiui has once again exposed the faces of anti-Gujarat gang and revealed their revengeful mindset against the state,” Gujarat government spokesperson Jaynarayan Vyas said.

Siddiqui, who is the editor of Urdu weekly ‘Nai Duniya’, had recently interviewed Modi in which the Gujarat Chief Minister had refused to apologise for the post-Godhra riots and instead said he would prefer to be hanged if found guilty.

“There is a gang in the country which thinks that Gujarat riots is an industry and their bread and butter depends on it. They fear that if truth about Gujarat is published, then they will lose their business,” Vyas said.

“When megastar Amitabh Bachchan agreed to be the brand ambassador of Gujarat, this gang vilified him, a CPI(M) MP (A P Abudulkutty) from Kerala praised the state and he was expelled from his party. The Vice-Chancellor of Darul Uloom Deoband Maulana (Ghulam Mohammad) Vastanvi tried to present true picture about Gujarat, he was also removed,” Vyas said.

This morning Samajwadi Party distanced itself from Shahid Siddiqui, saying he is no longer a part of their party.

“The party wants to clarify that Siddiqui had left SP long back and joined BSP on whose ticket he contested Lok Sabha election from Bijnor,” party’s national general secretary and spokesman Ram Gopal Yadav said in a statement issued in Lucknow.